


Until You

by charleybradburies



Series: Post-Israel Us [1]
Category: NCIS, Nikita (TV 2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Assassins & Hitmen, Babysitting, Bathroom Sex, Blow Jobs, Canon-Typical Violence, Clothed Sex, Crossover, Developing Friendships, Dialogue Heavy, Drabble Sequence, F/M, Families of Choice, Family Feels, Female Friendship, Female Protagonist, Female-Centric, First Meetings, Friends to Enemies, Hospital Sex, Hospitals, Idiots in Love, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Torture, Introspection, Kidnapping, Minor Character Death, Miscommunication, Office Sex, Oral Sex, Original Character Death(s), POV Multiple, Parenthood, Past Character Death, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Prologue, Public Blow Jobs, Public Display of Affection, Public Sex, Reunions, Semi-Public Sex, Sexual Content, Snipers, Team as Family, Texting, Travel, Undercover, Undercover Missions, Undercover as a Couple, Unplanned Pregnancy, Vaginal Fingering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-06
Updated: 2014-07-17
Packaged: 2018-02-07 16:21:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 8,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1905684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charleybradburies/pseuds/charleybradburies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's the easiest 180 of her life. She's tired of pretending. </p><p> <i>"It feels like nobody ever knew me until you knew me</i><br/><i>Feels like nobody ever loved me until you loved me</i><br/><i>Feels like nobody ever touched me until you touched me</i><br/><i>Baby, nobody, nobody, until you"</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

The morning after she finds out, she's up at six, vomiting into the toilet, half-heartedly cursing Tony and herself under her unsteady breath. It's then that there's a knock at the door, which she answers with a loaded weapon only to find Adam and Orli in the hallway.

"You obviously expect to come in, no?" she grumbles as she opens the door fully, and they meander to the couch, Orli bestowing a gentle kiss on Ziva's cheek as she passes. 

"Ziva, darling, I have a proposition for you." 

"If you are trying to marry me off because of my current condition, I am going to have to ask you to leave," Ziva says sternly. 

"No, no…not exactly," Orli replies slyly. 

"Not exactly?" Ziva growls, slouching aggressively into the chair at her dining table. 

"I am asking you to go undercover for a classified operation."


	2. Chapter 2

Tony's putting the finishing touches on a report when the phone rings, and he answers with a groan so loud Bishop looks up at him.

"Sorry," he mouths, but within a few seconds his expression of annoyance contorts into distress. After only a minute he sets the phone down hazily, and rushes to grab his things.

"What's up?" Bishop says casually, with only a tinge of concern at first.

"That was my stepsister. My father…he's in the hospital. They were in a car crash while they were on their way to my place. "

Ellie gasps. 

"Oh my god, are they - are they okay?"

"Well, they're alive. That counts for something, right?" Tony tries to joke as he hastens towards the elevator.


	3. Chapter 3

"Ah, Junior, you made it!" Senior exclaims heartily, pushing himself up into a seated position on his hospital bed.  


"Dad," Tony says heavily as they share a short hug.  


"Hey, he crashed into us! I had nothing to do with it."  


"You got in a crash with the baby in your car!"  


"He came out of nowhere and then sped off. It was not his fault," Linda interjects. "We're all okay, and that's what's important. Right, boys?"  


She looks between them expectantly.  


"Right," Tony concedes.


	4. Chapter 4

Abby pads into the squadroom.

"I went over Senior's car," she says quietly, and the team looks up curiously.

"And?" Gibbs probes.

"There's no way that crash was an accident. Whoever crashed into them definitely meant to do it."

"Any leads on the second car?" McGee asks gently. 

"All I can tell is that it's black, but that's not particularly helpful."

"Hmm…" Ellie hums from her desk, fixated on the ZNN report running behind them, about a recently escaped convict from Chesapeake Detention Facility. She fiddles rapidly with her laptop, then a moment later, she pops off her bum and clicks the plasma to a scan of a police report.

"It's him, it's this guy," she mumbles. 

"How can you tell?" Abby replies, visibly confused. 

"Fifteen years ago, when Tony was with Baltimore Homicide, Nathaniel Hunter was arrested for murder," says Ellie, quicky clicking to a newspaper article about the arrest. 

"They didn't have enough evidence to convict him at first, so Tony went undercover. Got a confession and ample evidence against Hunter. After his trial, Hunter swore that he'd make Tony pay if it's the last thing he did. He escaped from prison two days ago, and his ex-girlfriend owns a black Ford Wrangler, which was reported stolen by Baltimore PD when she was found yesterday, murdered, in her apartment."

"Do we know where he is now?" Gibbs asks forcefully, and McGee ducks back to his computer.

"Nope, but Baltimore has an APB out."

"I guess we'll just have to get creative, then," Ellie says.


	5. Chapter 5

The tech assistant calls out abruptly, interrupting Ellie's train of thought.

"Agent Bishop?"

"Yeah?"

"We've got facial recognition on your perp."

Ellie rushes up to MTAC, glancing over at McGee, who seems hard at work until he realises she's arrived. He bounces over to her, licking his lips proudly like he knows a juicy secret, and she looks at him inquisitively.

"He's using the alias Markus Collins, and he's in a hospital in Israel."

"Israel? Isn't- isn't Ziva Israeli?"

"Uh-huh."

He puts up a finger to stop her from rambling before he gets a chance to continue.

"The ambulance was called from the landline of an apartment rented under the names of Yosef and Yael Blumenthal, also known as Mossad Agent Adam Eshel and - get this - Ziva David."

"He went after Ziva," Ellie says with a sense of heavy disbelief.

"Not just Ziva," McGee adds, clicking to a scan of an Israeli birth certificate.

"Who's that?"

McGee chuckles.

"Ziva's _daughter._ "

"Ziva had a daughter?" Ellie exclaims, and he nods. 

"You'll never guess who's listed as the father," he says before zooming in on the section of the form where the barely-legible scrawl reads _Anthony DiNozzo, Jr._


	6. Chapter 6

The seconds before the ding of the elevator Ziva spends drawing a sharp breath. Her eyes are closed and she's bracing for the worst as the door opens and she hears the voice of a young woman whom she assumes is Agent Bishop.

"Apparently she disappeared after Hunter broke in, and both Director Elbaz and Agent Eshel claim not to know where she is. She left little Tali - who just might be the most adorable baby I've ever seen, by the way - with Orli and said she had some business to attend to, but that's the last contact anyone's had with her. Gibbs is still yelling at Vance about sending Agent David undercover without informing him. Well, probably not yelling; Gibbs doesn't really seem like a yell-er, but he's certainly very, _very,_ ticked off."

Ziva turns the corner and sees Gibbs's team huddled in front of the plasma. None of them notice her as she treads over to the squadroom, but once she's stopped at the edge of her former desk, Bishop realises she's there and gasps as though she's seen an actual ghost. McGee and Tony turn toward her in sync, shock upon their faces. 

McGee seems almost frozen, but she and Tony only stare into each other's eyes for a moment before he steps forward, left hand drifting instinctually to the nape of her neck as he inches closer.

The first kiss is gentle, sweet, almost chaste, for it takes a minute for all their repressed desire to swell into desperate need, but with little delay Ziva's wrapped her arms up around Tony's neck, pressing their bodies together and deepening the kiss. The rest of the world dissolves away as they grasp at each other hungrily, just aware enough of the situation to know better than to undress anywhere but their minds.

Neither McGee nor Bishop cares to interrupt, and stand awkwardly for the few minutes it takes for Gibbs to come galloping down the staircase.

"Found Ziva," he states in a teasing tone that pretends to be condescending, as he slides by the entwined lovers and over to his desk, and they break apart, embarassment setting in after a moment as though they were teenagers who had just been caught necking, rather than adults. 

"Hello," Ziva says, practically whimpering, folding her arms in front of her chest. 

"Hi, Ziver," Gibbs replies affectionately, moving over to give her a gentle kiss right below her hairline.

"Welcome home, kid."

"Are- are you home for good?" Tony asks her.

"I am not entirely sure. I was on a joint operation, as the NCIS agent, and I am still an American citizen, so, hopefully it is permissible that…Tali and I may come home," she says slowly, carefully, as though simply speaking it aloud would jinx the possibility.

"Where you belong," he adds with a yearningly austere sparkle in his eyes as they again meet hers. The slightest tear streaks her left cheek, and he reflexively reaches out for her, right thumb stroking the tear away. She shuts her eyes, content to stay precisely how she is, with Tony's fingertips grazing her neck, the rest of his body only inches away, radiating an intoxicating mix of pheromones and body heat.

"Agent David!" rings Vance's voice from above the staircase. Ziva opens her eyes again, and she stifles a groan as Tony releases her and she marches over to and up the stairs.


	7. Chapter 7

"Director," Ziva says coldly as she shuts the door behind herself.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Leon growls.

"When?"

"You shot an American civilian-"

"An American civilian who pointed a gun at my daughter whilst in my residence on Israeli soil. I _should_ have killed him!"

"And you didn't."

"My daughter was crying," replies Ziva, resolute although angry.

"I see," Leon says, in that manner he has that lets anyone who knows him well enough know he's egging them on. Ziva straightens her back.

"Yes, Director?" 

"Don't call me that," he says sharply, wincing at the word, and she furrows her brow at him as she watches him move to the conference table and lean on the edge nearest his desk. 

"I'll be leaving in a couple months, Ziva. I can't balance everything anymore. With Jackie, it wasn't so difficult, but since she's been gone, it's gotten harder and harder to have any kind of connection with my kids, but I need to be able to be there for them."

"Of course, Di- Leon…but why are you telling me? I fully understand your motivations."

"I know you do. But I have to think about what will be best for the agency."

"Naturally, but...what are you saying, Leon?"

"I'm saying that, especially after this last mission of yours, I think you're the best candidate to replace me."


	8. Chapter 8

"So…" pries Ellie, still stunned.

"So." McGee corroborates, smiling. 

"That's Ziva. _The_ Ziva."

"Yep," says Tony, shuffling back towards his desk, hand suspended immediately above a drawer.

"Oh, not now, DiNozzo. Give her at least a day or two," Gibbs says, half-teasingly. 

"No, I'm not - never mind."

He draws his arm back to his chest. 

"What?" Ellie furrows her brow, and Tony looks at her forebodingly. McGee grins.

"Tony's got a ring in his drawer," he says cheerily. Ellie gasps, and Gibbs laughs.

"It's been there for months, okay?" Tony gripes defensively, pulling the small box from the back of the drawer and bringing it over to Ellie.

"May I?" she asks, and he nods. She grips the case with her pointer finger and thumb and slowly flicks it open.

"Oh my god," she gulps as she studies the ring itself.

"Rose quartz, that's…wow. This is…this is _gorgeous_ , Tony. It's really...it's, it's stunning." 

She hears Ziva's heels clicking down the staircase, and returns the ring box to Tony, who speedily places it back in his drawer, leaning back against his desk to appear nonchalant as she approaches. 

Ziva walks over to the team, joining them seamlessly, almost as though no time has passed, as though she had known Ellie before, as she had known Jenny, and stands a couple of inches from Tony. 

"Well?" inquires Tony, his voice suddenly sounding like his life depends on her next words, which he seems convinced it might.

"That was not at all what I expected," Ziva says carefully, and his face falls. 

"You're not leaving again, are you?" 

"No, no," she says, a coy smile spreading across her face. She bites her lip and glances at Gibbs.

"Vance has decided to leave NCIS." 

"Oh my god," Ellie's astonishment reveals itself behind a series of bated breaths.

"What else did he say?" McGee asks after a tense moment.

"He has asked me to succeed him," Ziva admits slowly, pink flushing into her cheeks, and the entire team swells with excitement. She and Tony share a short kiss before she turns back to face the others.

"He's not leaving for a couple months, and I'm not really supposed to talk about it. I'm only telling you all since, well, you know why."

"That's fantastic, Ziva," says McGee definitively. 

"Madame Director D," says Tony in a movie-referencing tone, and Ziva raises an eyebrow at him.

"D for David...or D for DiNozzo?" she says jokingly. 

"Wait, what's the question?" he feigns ignorance, and she puts a hand on his forearm. 

"Come on, I want some coffee," she demands, pulling him away. As they approach the elevator, hand in hand and shoulder to shoulder, Ellie turns to McGee.

"They _so_ aren't going to get coffee, are they?"

"I doubt it."


	9. Chapter 9

"Clear," declares Tony, pushing the men's room door open with one hand as the other pulls at Ziva's hip, drawing her into a greedy kiss, which they somehow manage to maintain until Ziva's propped herself against the sinks, breaking only for a second as Tony locks the room. As confused as they are that the men's head locks from the inside, at the moment, they're grateful.

"You know, for the record, I do like the sound of that: Director DiNozzo," he says half-jokingly, as her belt buckle clinks upon hitting the linoleum floor.

"You would not make a very good director, Tony," Ziva says, jerking him back in for another, unceremonious, kiss, as he clumsily undoes his own belt before gripping her thighs and hoisting up onto the counter. She tugs off her blouse, revealing a small bruise above her right breast which Tony tenderly presses his lips against.

"Not exactly what I was getting at, but okay," he mutters in between kisses. Ziva hangs his jacket on the stall door closest to them, and methodically unbuttons his dress shirt before draping it next to the jacket.

"Knew you were the type," Tony says breathlessly, and she giggles. He scoots her closer to him, so that she's sitting on the edge of the counter, close enough for him to enter, and she's wet enough that it's effortless. She moans, almost gutturally, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. The fingers of his left hand make quick work of entwining themselves in her hair, as the other slides in between them to caress her clit in a very particular way that he'd discovered in Paris was a surefire way to have her not just moaning, but moaning his name.

She pulls him in tighter with each gentle thrust, willing her body to delay the orgasm she finds herself close to, but the supreme bliss of being back in her lover's arms is overwhelming; and as such, they last barely more than a couple of minutes, coming only seconds apart from each other, first Ziva, then Tony. The rhythmic, convulsive jolts, of weakness, of pleasure, of breathlessness, trickle slowly through both their bloodstreams as they continue to kiss, and they wait for the last traces of orgasm to leave their bodies before they begin to wipe the sweat from their skin and put their clothing back on.

A couple of minutes later, Ziva's looking into a mirror and adjusting her hair, and Tony stands behind her with his arms around her stomach, hands meeting at her belt buckle as he kisses her shoulder.

"So, sweetcheeks, coffee?"

"Coffee sounds great, mon petit pois."


	10. Chapter 10

"You know what I still don't get?" Ellie muses aloud.

"How he got to Israel without being noticed?" Tony responds.

"Yeah! I mean, he was an escaped convict, it's not like he went through Dulles, right? Plus, we have no evidence he's used the alias he's using before, let alone that it's on a fake passport. But he was unconcious when he got to the hospital, and still was, last time we checked, so how is he at the hospital under a fake name? I mean, someone had to have helped him-"

"Someone did a little more than help," interrupts McGee, bringing Hunter's financials to the plasma. "Someone paid him. An Israeli bank transferred 50.000$ to his account two weeks ago."

Tony's eyes widen, and he rifles through his desk drawer for a moment before bringing a photograph to the scanner. He promptly emails it to McGee.

"Run facial recognition on that photo," he says, and Tim looks at him confusedly.

"On Ziva?"

"No, McMissingThePoint, the woman she's with. She's Israeli."

"Gotcha," McGee accepts, typing furiously and displaying the picture on the plasma for the few seconds before the woman's licence information comes up. 

"Deena Bashan. Other than being Israeli, what does she-"

"She and Ziva were childhood friends. Oh, and she tried to kill me."

"Wait, what?" inquires Ellie. 

"They grew up together. Deena fell in love with Ziva's brother, Ari, who was a terrorist, and whom Ziva killed when he tried to kill Gibbs. Deena's never forgiven her, but she was too much of a coward to tell Ziva to her face. This photo's from Eli's funeral, the first time they'd talked since then. Ziva mistakenly thought she'd have come to terms with Ari's death and told her about…us."

"And Deena decided that since Ziva took away her happy ending, she had cause to do the same," Ellie finishes. "That really makes me glad I was an analyst before coming here - not that being an assassin was ever an option, but still. Benham was difficult enough." 

She sighs, looking absentmindly at McGee as he types.

"Hard to believe I used to think growing up in Oklahoma was complicated."

"Growing up anywhere is complicated, Bishop. Don't let anyone tell you different," Gibbs says authoritatively.

"Which rule is that?"

"It isn't."

"Okay then," she mumbles, reaching for a granola bar in her jacket pocket.

"So I'll remember," she declares when the trio looks at her oddly.

"You can call him Parsa now, you know," declares Tony. "Give yourself some distance from the case."

Ellie looks up at him momentarily, but doesn't respond.

"Tony's right, it's got to be her," McGee announces a moment later. "I had to get through the bank's - you know what, never mind - but the account that the money was transferred from was in Ari's name. It hadn't been touched in years."

Ellie flips open her laptop, running with a realisation she has.

"Looks like she's off the grid," she states, frustrated, then hops off the desk and rushes up to MTAC, the others trotting behind her after a short while.

"Get Mossad on the cam, ASAP."

"Yes, Agent Bishop," one of the tech assistants replies, and a moment later Orli's on the screen.

"Eleanor, hello," says Orli, but Ellie only waves at her.

"What do you know about Doctor Deena Bashan?"

"In what respect? She is a friend of Ziva's, I know."

"Was," comes a voice from off-screen, and Adam suddenly is next to Orli. 

"She _was_ a friend of Ziva's."

"They are no longer friends? What happened?" Orli inquires quite grandmotherly, and Adam tells her to save her questions for later. She pouts, but turns back to face the webcam as the three male NCIS agents join Ellie in front of the MTAC screen.

"Why do you ask?"

"She's the one who paid Nathaniel Hunter to go after Ziva."

"What?" Orli exclaims in shock, and Ellie nods. 

"Wait, aren't you taking care of Tali?" Tony interjects worriedly. 

"She is well cared for, I assure you. She is with a friend of mine at the moment."

"Considering you thought Deena was still a friend of Ziva's, that's not reassuring, Orli." 

"She and I are much older than your love, Tony. I know her well enough to trust her with a little girl who is practically my granddaughter."

"She is not your granddaughter. She is, however, my _daughter-_ "

"Tony, she's safe. You have my word that, if anything bad happens, anything at all, you have my permission to shoot me," Adam adds.

"Fine," Tony finally grants. 

"But the fact remains that we need to find Deena as soon as possible."

A beep comes from his pocket and he pulls his phone out. A text from a restricted number pops on the screen.

_In trouble. Norfolk Int. Come fast. Come alone. Tell no one. - Z_

"But you guys've got this, right?" he coaxes, turning for the door. "Ziva needs my help."

They nonchalantly wave him off, and he exits the room hastily.


	11. Chapter 11

Ellie and Tim look at Ziva anxiously as she struts over to the bullpen.  


"Do you know where Tony is? He did not come home last night," she asks, and they exchange a fearful glance.  


"He got a text from you, said you needed him and left," says Ellie.  


"He left at about three. If you didn't send that text I can go through the carrier to get it-"  


"Just do it, McGee. Please," demands Ziva, uncharacteristically unnerved, and as he's unsure how to respond he simply gets to work, clicking the text to the plasma only a couple of moments later.  


She reads it a few times, having to devote most of her energy to keep herself from trembling. Everything they'd went through, and yesterday she was happy, and yet today he was gone. It was too much.  


After a deep breath, she turns and hurries back to the lift. The stunned McGee stares, but Ellie gathers enough courage to grab her gear and rush after Ziva, jumping after her into the elevator.  


"Ready for battle, Madame Director."  


"Bishop-"  


"Someone's got to be your backup, right? Whoever's behind this, you're not running into it alone."  


"You have a husband to return home to."  


"And if I thought someone was trying to hurt him, I'd go after them, too, but not without backup."  


Ziva looks at her, surprised at the - slightly - younger woman's conviction, considering she'd seemed to faint at the sight of her just the day before.  


"That is commendable of you, considering we have only just met."  


"Thank you, I think?"  


They both giggle.  


"It was a compliment, yes," Ziva affirms as they strut past security and exit the building. She grabs the key to her rental car from her pocket and unlocks the doors.


	12. Chapter 12

"Nothing out of place," Ziva repeats angrily, after the airport's head of security relays it to her. 

"A federal agent is missing; tell me how the hell there is nothing out of place!"

She raises Tony's cell phone in her sweaty palm, reminding him that it was found, discarded, on one of their runways.

"Ma'am-"

"Do not _ma'am_ me," she protests.

"Sir-" says an apprehensive twenty-something, peeping into his boss's office from the doorway.

"Yes?"

"One of the private planes is missing from its hanger, sir."

"Well, that is certainly out of place then!" pushes Ziva.

"I was unaware, ma'am-"

"You supposedly are in charge of keeping this facility secure, are you not?"

"Yes, but-"

"You're doing one hell of a job at it," Ziva sneers. 

Ellie stands taller when the few guards in the room turn their heads to look at her, although they're half expecting her to contradict Ziva, to tell her to calm down; but Vance has given Ziva permission to work as acting director until her official promotion and she has the weight of all of NCIS behind her - and besides, Ellie agrees, she would not be speaking kindly to a man who lost a fucking _plane,_ especially not when that very plane most likely had the love of her life on board, going god-knows-where, to have god-knows-what done to him. 

"Hey, Bishop? Have them send all the information they have on the missing plane to McGee."

Ellie nods, turning towards the guards to disseminate directions. Being Ziva's second-in-command came with one hell of a power rush, but she was finding that it was just that: a rush. As long as she didn't dwell on the fact that Tony was out there in danger somewhere, it felt _exhilarating._


	13. Chapter 13

Ziva paces from one end of MTAC to the other a few dozen times before McGee's finished tracking down the missing plane.

"Uh, boss?" he mutters, and Ziva rushes over. He becomes visibly uncomfortable, and she realises that he was talking to Gibbs, who now is at her side.

"Sorry about that," she mumbles.

"It's okay, but um, I found the plane."

"And?"

"It landed in Tel Aviv earlier today."

"She's going to her home territory, where she feels more comfortable. She thinks she'll have leverage," declares Ziva.

"Thinks?" McGee inquires.

"Israel is not that expansive, and Tony has chased me around most of it."

"Not to mention, his Hebrew's damn good," Gibbs adds.

"He has continued practising?" Ziva says, surprised and smiling. 

"Yeah," he replies as though it were an answer so obvious and inevitable that the question did not warrant being asked.

"McGee?" she demands after a moment.

"Yeah?"

"Get Ellie and I on the next flight to Ben Gurion."

"You're going after him?"

"No, I'm going to go get some hummus!" she huffs, half-joking, as she marches out of MTAC.

"Stupid question," he concedes, a moment too late, and Gibbs gently nods, turning proudly to watch Bishop follow Ziva out of the room.


	14. Chapter 14

Ziva wakes from her nap to the sound of Ellie forcefully typing on her laptop, and looks amusedly at the blonde until she realises Ziva's awoken.

"Sorry," Ellie whimpers, then straightens her back and apologises less weakly.

"What are you doing?"

"I've decided that I should try to emulate you more. I think it'll make me a better agent. I'm calculating what I'll need to-"

"Do not do that," grunts Ziva, and Ellie's expression turns even more apologetic. "Do not emulate me. Emulate the best version of yourself. Do not try to be someone whom you are not."

She glances at the laptop screen. "Although, I can help you with some of these items," she says, pointing at the list. "I know a great store in Tel Aviv where we could purchase this clothing and the high-heeled boots."

"Thanks," replies Ellie, shocked at Ziva's response. "I'm sorry if I offended you, though-"

"No, no, I am quite…flattered, actually. However, I know how pretending ends - that is to say, not well. To be a better agent, you will need to become in touch with yourself, far more than you would need to in order to be a successful analyst."

"You looked into me."

"Orli has been giving me updates on the team. Of course I looked into you."

"And?"

"I think you have a lot to learn…but are a fast and enthusastic learner. You are a genius, you have your own boundaries, you know how to hold your own…you are a good fit. Better than I was when I first got to NCIS."

"You really think so?" Ellie asks anxiously.

"Yes. Ellie," she says, making her companion look over at her again, "you are a good agent. You have been at NCIS for a year, you cannot expect everything to have fallen into place, especially considering how…out of place I left everything."

"You can't blame all of this on yourself, Ziva. You can't carry the weight of the world, no matter how much of an amazing badass you are. I mean, everyone makes mistakes and bad choices-"

"Not all of them kill people," interrupts Ziva, blinking back the tears that insist upon showing themselves.

"No, but many people who kill people never move past that. You were raised to be an assassin, and yet, you worked so hard to prove you were more than that."

"And I failed."

"You only fail when you stop trying," declares Ellie, stowing her laptop back in her carryon bag and grabbing a packet of tissues which she gingerly places on Ziva's lap. 

"I read that, when you were held captive in Somalia you had decided that you accepted not living through it, but you did. You run face first into everything but love and you still come out fighting. So what if it hasn't all gone the way you wanted or thought it would? You're a fighter, and as long as you're still fighting, it's not over, Ziva. And this team…this team is behind you one hundred per cent. Everyone. They are your family, and they love you, no matter what mistakes you've made in your past - they don't care about that. They want you back. They need you back."

Ziva grabs the packet of tissues, dabbing one to her cheeks to erase the tears silently streaming down them.

"I mean, they never talk about it unless I ask, and even then they want to act like you're this Israeli version of Xena. They can't say a bad word about you, not even Tony, and his heart breaks every time anyone comes close to mentioning you."

"Are you trying to reassure me that I will be welcomed back?"

"You gave birth to the child of a man you're willing to chase halfway across the world without a second thought, and didn't say a word about it to him for months. It seems like you need the reassurance."

"And even then you would like to emulate me?"

"Guess I'm just as smitten as they are. Well, except for Tony. He's a category of his own in that regard." 

Ziva chuckles.

"Yes, I suppose he is," she grins, reaching into her jacket pocket and pulling out a small photograph, a snap of she and Tony in front of the Eiffel Tower, which she looks at for a few seconds before turning it towards Ellie.

"We were kissing in the sunset, and this young boy comes over and pulls on my skirt, saying that we looked very much in love and asking if he and his mother could take a picture for us. It was quite touching."

"How long ago was this?"

"A couple of years ago. We were assigned to protect a government witness in an embezzlement case, and got to spend the day before our flight home around the city."

"It's a very nice picture…and he's right."

"Hmm?"

"The little boy was right. You do look very much in love," clarifies Ellie as she hands the picture back to Ziva, and Ziva blushes.

"I like to think we were."

"You still are."

Ziva looks at her inquiringly.

"You keep a photograph in your pocket of the two of you kissing in Paris. That's about as obvious as a neon sign spelling out "Tony DiNozzo and Ziva David are irrevocably and perpetually in love," okay?" 

She reaches into her bag and opens her wallet, taking a picture out of it.

"Jake and I on our honeymoon, see?" she says, beaming, and hands the photo to Ziva, right as the seatbelt light comes back on and they hear the pilot on speaker announcing their momentary descent into Tel Aviv.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tateleh: literally, little father - tate is father - but used as a term of endearment, usually for small children
> 
> Barukh haba: welcome
> 
> Bashert: soulmate, sweetheart, beloved, destined
> 
> *All of my Hebrew is what I know of from my American Jewish friends, so if there is something I am using incorrectly, please let me know.*

"Look, _tateleh!_ Look who is here!" beams Orli, bouncing the little girl in her arms as she watches Ziva and Ellie enter her office. Ziva rushes over to her, kissing Orli on the cheek in greeting and plucking Tali from her arms.

"Barukh haba, my darling," says Orli, returning the kiss, and turns to welcome Ellie.

"From Agent McGee I understand your bashert in trouble?" she poses a moment later. Ziva gives her a slightly annoyed look, but nods. 

"No one at the hospital has seen her for days," says Adam, walking casually into the office. "The coworker who last saw her drove her to the airport. She said she was going to America, and they're not aware of whether or not she's returned."

"She has to be here - what other explanation is there, Adam?" Ziva starts to fume, and Ellie reaches out for Tali, letting the little girl grab onto her fingers as she pulls her into her chest.

"I do not know, Ziva, but if she is trying to hide from us she is doing a good job."

"Did you put Tony's picture out?"

"Yes, Ziva, I put both of their pictures out to everyone I could."

Ellie looks at Ziva apologetically, then Tali reaches for her nose and her eyes light up.

"Wait a minute," she says to Ziva absentmindedly. "In Somalia, Tony's plan was to be captured in the hopes of consequently being brought to wherever you were."

"And?"

"How long has it been since you've spoken to Deena?"

"Ellie, what are you thinking?"

"If she doesn't know we know she's involved, maybe she'll try to take advantage of that. _That's_ how we find them."

Ziva's doubtful look changes to one of inquisitiveness.

"She wants to make a point to you. If she thinks you're desperate-"

"I am desperate, Ellie-"

"She'll think she has the upper hand. She'll come to _us._ "

"And then?"

"I don't know, I haven't gotten that far yet. It's not like we can call Gib- actually, I know someone we might be able to call," grins Ellie, and she pulls out her phone, which Tali immediately reaches for, trying to bring it to her mouth. Everyone allows it for a moment, before Ziva pulls out her own and shows it to the little girl, who delights in the presence of that other plaything, and grabs Tali back from her momentary babysitter, giving Ellie the flexibility to dial. The others listen intently as her conversation begins, though they can't hear the other person's voice.

"Hey, Niki? You anywhere near Israel? Great, great! Oh, undercover - that's exciting! Actually, I don't have much time to chat now - I need your help with something. Yeah, my partner Tony's been kidnapped and I'm here looking for him. Would you be cool being backup? You have your rifle with you, right? Fantastic. Just, track my phone and be discreet, okay? Yeah, of course we can hang out later. Yes, I'll let you take me to a club. All right, Niki. See you later. Thanks a bunch!"

She sees the inquiring looks of her companions and sighs jokingly.

"She's my sister-in-law. We're allowed to be cordial."

"And you are calling her for help on a rescue mission?" questions Adam, his brow thoroughly furrowed.

"She _used_ to be a spy. That's how she met her husband, actually. They worked for the same organisation, then they brought it down. They still freelance, though, here and there, but they're mostly domestic now."

A collective nod of understanding ends that conversation.

"Ellie, can you hold her again?" prompts Ziva, gently drawing her phone back out of her daughter's hands as Ellie again takes the baby into her arms. She takes a deep breath and opens her contacts menu, swiping upwards. She presses her eyes shut and dwells on the situation until tears develop then reopens them, tapping Deena's name.

"Here goes nothing," she mouths at Ellie, who gives her a reassuring smile.


	16. Chapter 16

Ziva sips her coffee, averting her gaze every couple of moments to the side mirror of Adam's car, strategically parked a few meters down the block from where she and Ellie sit outside a cafe. Eventually she spots a white man clad all in black making a beeline for their table with a gun is tucked hastily into the interior pocket of his jacket.

"Stay calm," she orders, though as she feels the pistol butt up against her skull she has to steady her own breathing.

"Get up, slowly. You're coming with me."

"I see they let you out of the hospital, Hunter-" begins Ellie, but he growls at her to shut up, and after a calming look from Ziva, she obliges. He jaywalks them across the street and shoves them towards a black car.

"Get in the car, bitches," he commands, and while both of them reflexively move to challenge him, they slide into the backseat with relatively little fuss, though once he's locked the doors and driven off they scrunch their noses at each other, compliant but dissatisfied with the plan.

"We will kick his ass later," mouths Ziva, and Ellie nods in agreement.


	17. Chapter 17

The car ride takes only a few moments and a suspicious number of right turns and lack of turn signals - "He's a more chaotic driver than I am," Ziva tells Ellie half-jokingly - before they duck into an alley behind a fancy hotel. Hunter drags them in through the back entrance, grips so tight on each woman that they're both sure he's bruised their forearms, and shoves them into an elevator so hard they hit the back.

"Not a man of many words, I see?" prods Ellie as they arrive in silence at the top floor and advance to one of the penthouse suites. 

"Nice digs, by the way."

"I'm glad you think so, _Miss_ Bishop," rings an unfamiliar female voice which, immediately upon looking over at Ziva, with her newly ice cold eyes and gritted teeth, Ellie knows originates from Dr Bashan.

"It's either Mrs or Agent, Miss Bashan," she gripes, enunciating the monosyllabic title, just as Deena had.

"Funny, this one, Ziva," says the other woman as she descends into the living room down a single flight of stairs. "Gutsy."

"Gutsy, yes. Funny, no," Ziva says chidingly as Deena approaches her, gesturing to Hunter to release Ziva, and Ellie forces her mouth shut to keep from laughing, although her lips momentarily peel into a prideful smile. 

Deena's monochrome black tank and trousers accentuate her slim but sharp, athletic figure and her scowl contorts her face to seem more square than it is as she steels herself and strikes Ziva across the face. Ellie flinches - then groans in pain, as Hunter's grip on her remains tight - but Ziva's motion remains calculated as she returns the blow with even greater force, paying testament to a lifetime of training. 

Deena stumbles to her right, keeling over, and Ziva thrusts her left boot heel up to the woman's gut. Deena topples backwards, almost tripping before knocking into the couch and falling into a seated position. She reaches to the hems of her trousers and pulls a gun from a holster on her left ankle - which she immediately points at Ziva as she stands back up, only wincing slightly - and a small red-button-toting device from a smaller holster on her right ankle. She forces a villainous grin onto her face, though as she stops moving Ellie sees that her cheeks have been stained by tears.

"Take one step toward me, Ziva, and I will shoot you in the leg. I will shoot you, then your little partner, then I will go upstairs and put a bullet through Tony's skull. If you draw your weapon on me…I will press this button, and turn this entire building to rubble."

Ziva's breathing quickens and a quickly exchanged glance confirms Ellie's suspicion that she's blinking back tears. 

Fortifying herself on Deena's intensifying glare at Ziva, she feigns difficulty standing in her heels, tripping just momentarily enough to loosen Hunter's grip and enable herself to pull her own gun from her backside. Hunter grabs at her waist, and reflexively she pulls the trigger and he crumbles, bleeding, to the floor. Deena turns and fires at Ellie, giving Ziva the chance to grab her knife and hurl it into Deena's abdomen. Ziva reaches for her gun, but suddenly spots a muzzle flash from outside the window, and Deena drops dead of a shot to the head. Ziva's hands speed to her trouser pocket, grabbing her phone, but a text from a vaguely familiar number pops up before she's pressed a single digit.

_101 called. Get Tony. Upstairs, on your left. -Niki_

She looks hurriedly to Ellie, who, although wounded, demands that she go find Tony, and rushes up the stairs to find him in the bedroom immediately left of the staircase, standing bound and gagged against one of the pillars of the canopy bed. She hastens to free him, willing herself to ignore his numerous wounds as she loosens the ropes around him. 

As soon as his hands are free one is entwined in her hair, pulling her in for a bittersweet and swiftly deepening kiss. By the time the EMTs arrive upstairs with a stretcher neither of them knows how much time has passed (they later found it was only about three minutes) and the subsequent ambulance ride, during which they remain connected by no more than sweaty interlaced fingers, feels a lifetime long.


	18. Chapter 18

The sunlight streaming in through the hospital window wakes Ellie at god-knows-what hour - she certainly doesn't know - and after a good, long groan she feels at her sides for her contacts.

"Where the-"

"Looking for these?" says a man standing close to her. She can't see him but recognises his voice easily. He gently places the case and solution onto her lap.

"Michael? What are you doing here?" Ellie questions as she inserts the lenses. 

"I could ask you the same, Ellie," he says paternally.

"Oh, don't give me that. I am a grown woman."

"Who just got herself shot."

"Firstly, I did not _get_ myself shot, someone shot me. Secondly, how the hell did you find me?"

"I know people."

"As in your wife?"

"I do indeed know my wife, yes."

"Okay," Ellie sighs, "just because I married your brother doesn't mean you get a say in whether or not I chase bad guys."

"It does when you get my wife to help you do it," he says angrily.

"Michael," soothes Nikita from the entrance to the hospital room, authoritatively folding her arms. "It's not like she's a spy."

"Exactly, Niki! It's not her job to-"

"To _what?_ To protect my partner? I'm not an analyst anymore - I'm a federal agent. Protecting my team - with my life, if necessary - is most definitely part of my job. I've got their backs, no matter what it takes, Michael. You're not the only one who's allowed to fight for the people they care about, okay?" 

"Ellie-"

"I would not push her, Michael," says Ziva, a few paces behind Nikita. "The last person who challenged her loyalty, she shot dead."

"Ziva!" exclaims Nikita, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her into a cordial hug.

"Niki," returns Ziva.

"Wait a minute," inquires Ellie, "You know each other?"

"Oh, yeah," grunts Michael teasingly.

"We have worked together," Ziva answers.

"We fell out of touch a few years ago," adds Nikita.

"Quite!" Ziva turns to Nikita, casually resting an arm on the other woman's shoulder. "I did not know you had gotten married!"

"I did not know you were American!"

"Touché," jokes Ziva before hugging Nikita again. "It has been too long."

Michael decides against pushing - seldom would he win an argument with even one of the women in the room, so any attempt to argue with more than one was as futile as teaching a fish to read. Not that he hadn't tried that, too, at one point in his life, but he was much younger then. 

"How is Tony doing?" Ellie asks Ziva, whilst struggling to sit up in the bed. Michael reaches over to help her, and she slaps him away, so he raises his arms in defeat and backs away. Nikita smiles at him and gives a thumbs-up, and he sticks his tongue out at her. 

"He's out of surgery now. They have him sedated still, but he is going to be perfectly fine."

"Great," Ellie smiles.

"And you? You are all right, I hope?"

"A bit sore, but it's nothing I can't handle."

Ziva turns to leave, bidding a temporary goodbye to the three Bishops, then turns back.

"Oh, Ellie! Orli is going to bring Tali along later, to meet Tony. Would you like to see her?"

"Yeah, absolutely!"

"Tali?" inquires Nikita gently. "Isn't that…your sister?"

"My sister was named Tali, yes; she is my daughter's namesake," Ziva explains, and is met with a friendly punch to the arm.

"You have a daughter!"

Ziva grins, and reaches in her pocket for a wallet-sized photograph of the little girl.

"Oh, Ziva!" Nikita coos, passing the picture to her husband. "She's _beautiful._ "

Ziva's grin widens proudly.

"She doesn't look very Israeli, though," comments Michael as he hands back the snap. 

"She looks very much like her father," Ziva states. "He is _Italian._ "

"Italian as in…" pries Nikita pointedly.

"As in DiNozzo, yes, Tony DiNozzo." 

She and Nikita wink at each other, and she turns again to leave only to come inches from bumping into Gibbs. 

"Wow, I am _really_ popular today. Guess I should get shot at more often," Ellie comments, and Gibbs and Michael both give her disapproving looks at which she melodramatically rolls her eyes. 

She, Ziva, and Nikita laugh, and all feels right.


	19. Chapter 19

"How are you feeling?" she asks softly, closing the door behind herself.

"Well, I'm definitely not feeling any pain any more," says Tony.

"That is good."

"Yeah…" he mumbles, and Ziva furrows her brow at him as she scoots her chair closer to the hospital bed.

"What?"

"Well, to be honest, after the dream I just had, I'm having some trouble….calming down."

Ziva giggles.

"Oh, now you censor yourself?"

"We are in public, Ziva," he gestures toward the open window facing the hallway. She rolls her eyes and stands back up, lowering the blinds of the window and locking the door. 

"No more public than a bathroom at the office," she states flirtatiously.

"You got me there," he says, weakly reaching out for her, and she leans into him for a kiss. She assists him in sitting up so that his hospital gown is more easily removable, and strips down to her own undergarments, grinding against him half-accidentally as she climbs on top of the bed. He groans in arousal; she smiles and repeats herself. She presses her body down to his as she kisses him again, her lips travelling downwards after a short moment. She scoots backward slowly, running her lips and tongue down his neck and chest and abdomen, until his cock is truly throbbing and his eyes hold seemingly equal levels of desperation and lust. He flexes up into her mouth as she circles the head with her tongue and then seamlessly takes him in. Her hands drift up to his stomach, fingers lovingly tracing the scars newly scattered across his skin.

"Holy fffuck, Ziva," he moans, gathering her hair up in his hands and holding it behind her head, and though she doesn't react otherwise he can feel her smile. Tony watches her intently as she bobs up and down for another moment, until one of her hands drifts away from him to touch herself, and the longing in his gut starts to boil. He touches her chin, drawing her up from his cock.

"Come up 'ere," he says, almost begging, and she scoots back to the middle of the bed until she's sitting on his chest. He kisses her fiercely, hands trailing shivers along her back and expertly tugging off her panties, tossing them on top of her other clothing. The moment his hands leave her skin - his left for her hair and the right for his cock - she stops him, pulling his right hand to her hip and reaching behind her back for him. Rubbing his cock against her clit, she teases herself for a moment before gradually taking him in. 

Tony lasts only a couple minutes of her riding him before pulling out and coming upon his lower stomach, and with another, visceral, kiss, he slips first one, then two fingers into her dripping cunt, slowly pushing deeper as he rubs the pad of his thumb against her clit until she too reaches orgasm. She flops down on top of him, then rolls onto her side, still facing him, and they share a lengthy, tender kiss. Ziva's hand rests on his chest even once they both close their eyes, sweaty, sticky, panting and content.

They both sigh when Ziva's phone rings, but she reaches to answer it. 

"Orli, hello," she pushes herself to say somewhat cheerily, knowing that Orli may well have her on speaker, which it turns out she does - Tali shouts for her not ten seconds later, a very welcome interruption.

"Shalom, tateleh!" Ziva beams, tossing a box of baby wipes to Tony so that he can clean himself up as she and Orli discuss logistics, not expecting him to pull her back into him a moment later and wipe her clean of bodily fluids as well, which he takes his sweet time doing before allowing her to get up and put her clothes back on. She playfully shoves her hand into his face when he grumbles as she stands ("But I thoroughly enjoy looking at you naked, Ziva," he teasingly complains, but she maintains that there will be plenty of time for that later).

As it turns out, Gibbs knocks on the door only a matter of seconds after they're both decent.


	20. Chapter 20

Ziva pushes herself up from the hospital bed and crosses the room.

"Don't you dare do that again, DiNozzo," Gibbs says gruffly as she opens the door, and Tony's smile falls.

"Do what, boss?"

"Leave my sight without backup!"

"Gotcha," Tony sighs, relieved that Gibbs wasn't talking about having mind-blowing sex in a hospital bed (partly because it would be beyond embarrassing if he'd known, and partly because Tony honestly wouldn't mind having to stay in a hospital forever if all the sex they had was even half that good, but he digresses). 

"Good," says Gibbs definitively, finishing that conversation. 

"Tony!" screams Abby from outside the room, rushing past both Gibbs and Ziva to envelop Tony in an excited hug. "Oh, I'm so happy you're okay!"

"And you," she says, pulling away from him and looking demandingly to Ziva for a moment before her feigned anger fades. "Come here."

The two hold each other tightly for a couple of minutes, as though they were never going to get a chance to hug again.

"I'm sorry I could not tell you, Abby…but I told her about her Auntie Abby every night," Ziva says softly. 

"Really?" asks Abby weakly, and Ziva nods. 

"I told her about her entire family, Abby. The whole team. Even about Breena."

Gibbs chuckles.

"What about your birth family?"

"I told her about them too, although much less. I have not shown her a picture of Ari above the age of seventeen and I intend to keep it that way, at least for now."

"That makes sense," agrees Abby, resting a comforting hand on Ziva's shoulder. "There will be plenty of time to figure out how to explain all that later."

"All of what?" says McGee, popping into the room with a smile. Ziva immediately wraps him into a momentary hug which he happily returns.

"Ziva's crazy Israeli ninja femme fatale backstory," Tony declares, and she sighs affectionately. 

"Did someone say ninja femme fatale?" says Orli sweetly as the door opens once again to reveal her and Tali. "Let's not pretend I don't know about whom you are speaking, now."

"Shalom, tateleh," murmurs Ziva, who smiles radiantly as her baby girl trades arms. She points at each of their companions, introducing her to them in turn.

"Look, it's your Aunt Abby, and your Uncle Tim, and your Granddad Gibbs," she says tenderly. 

"And your Abba," she finishes as she moves back to Tony's bed and sits down on the edge. He scoots over to give her enough space to lean slowly back and rest on his chest, laying Tali down on top of him on her stomach. The little girl instinctively reaches for Tony's nose and the entire room chuckles happily.

"I am going to see Agent Bishop," Orli tells Gibbs, realising that Tony and Ziva are too focused on their daughter to be aware of the rest of them, and closes the door behind her as she leaves, only for Gibbs to reopen it and usher out Abby and Tim. Abby whines that the reunion is too touching to miss, but settles for a photograph on her phone - and the knowledge that she'll later beg Ziva for every detail of Tali's existence.

**Author's Note:**

> The name is because of [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-POtAR8D3o&index=29&list=PL8f18ffQGs8sRJbud3Js4nCMExYXo8H8d). It only has season 3, but I like it, and the song fits them so well.


End file.
